[coli]

Okay...

Could you please describe the rest of your system? What did you have it hooked up with?

What does "incorrect" mean? What is your reference for "correct"?

Heck, if one's reference for sound is the local community band shell, hearing something played at Carnegie Hall would sound "incorrect."

I can completely understand if you simply did not like the presentation. Everyone is different. But calling something incorrect goes a little beyond that...

Incorrect means what it means, sounded wrong, unnatural, thin, flat, "hi-fi" ha, emotionless. I stopped listening to a lot of my favorite songs. It actually got worse as my system get's more and more revealing.
 
I have paired the Directstream with Pass Labs XA30.8 (According to Stereophile best amp ever at $6000+, or that was the XA30.5 reviewed), Benchmark AHB2 (a 100% transparent amp at $3000, it is truly incredible).
 
Speaker is KEF R700 (romantic sound) and Klipsch RP-280F (clarity sound).
 
XLR cable was Mogami, changed to Neotech, a truly amazing cable.
 
I also got a Mutec reclocker and RME AES card as the source + Equitech balanced power (the increase in clarity is amazing here too, also highly recommended)
 
As you can expect, the Directstream sounded horrible wrong when paired with the clarity system of AHB2 + RP-280F. It sounded only weirdly wrong with the Pass Labs  + KEF and leaves me lacking.
 
For the longest time I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I ended up upgrading the rest of the system, all of it. Sigh.
 
Then I got the Metrum DAC and boy was I angry at PS Audio at that point.
 
The thing is, the cheap Onkyo receiver/processor never at once sounded wrong, and boy it's cheap compared to the Scam that is the PS Audio Directstream DAC. I was totally satisfied with the Onkyo, then I bought the Directstream based on reviews.
 
Oh well, lesson learned.
 
Bonus: Try listen to Ceui's songs on the Directstream, then on a normal system. The DS just butchers Ceui. *cries*

 

[4N6]

Coli,

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[longbowbbs]

Time to re-energize a bit. The Torrey's firmware and the Bridge II Roon compatibility have really widened the capabilities of the DS. Performance is really stable and the DAC portion provides a significant quality enhancement to standard 16/44 mp3's.

 

[bmichels]

I wonder if this DAC is a little bit on the warm side ?
 
Indeed, I have a BHSE amp + Stax SR009 headphone that is VERY relealing but also some time too analytical to the point that it can be fatiguing.
 
Therefore I am looking for a DAC that will be very precise & detailled BUT also on the warm side to warm-up a little the Sound signature of the Stax009.


 

 

[longbowbbs]

  I wonder if this DAC is a little bit on the warm side ?
 
Indeed, I have a BHSE amp + Stax SR009 headphone that is VERY relealing but also some time too analytical to the point that it can be fatiguing.
 
Therefore I am looking for a DAC that will be very precise & detailled BUT also on the warm side to warm-up a little the Sound signature of the Stax009.


 

It has a very organic and non digital sound quality

 

[arnaud]

Hi bmichels,

I would guess the issue is not the DAC but the listening level and headphone as some of dacs you've already sampled are nowhere near digital sounding (I speak about the D1 as I have one).

In particular, I haven't found any better than my sr009 but I don't listen very loud either usually. In your case, you like to listen at a higher volume (from reading your previous posts) and I am not sure the SR009 tonal balance goes well with this because it has slight emphasis in the 1-3kHz region I recall.

It's the most typical reason why some people prefer the Omega 2 or other phones to it. The omega 2 is a bit scooped out in this region and needs to be played loud to come alive / is much more tolerant of poor recordings. On the BHSE, the SR009 becomes revealing of any glare in the rest of the chain including the recording.

To summarize, I think there are many dacs that would fit into your rig, including those you've tried so far and the directsream but no proper DAC in the world will drastically change tonality to the degree you're after.

Another quick option, which you've started to play with I think: swap tubes in the BHSE. I found some tubes (like metal base replica from psvane) to sound a bit hard on it and prefer typical NOS variants recommended for the bhse.

Cheers,
Arnaud

 

[bmichels]

Hi bmichels,

I would guess the issue is not the DAC but the listening level and headphone as some of dacs you've already sampled are nowhere near digital sounding (I speak about the D1 as I have one).

In particular, I haven't found any better than my sr009 but I don't listen very loud either usually. In your case, you like to listen at a higher volume (from reading your previous posts) and I am not sure the SR009 tonal balance goes well with this because it has slight emphasis in the 1-3kHz region I recall.

It's the most typical reason why some people prefer the Omega 2 or other phones to it. The omega 2 is a bit scooped out in this region and needs to be played loud to come alive / is much more tolerant of poor recordings. On the BHSE, the SR009 becomes revealing of any glare in the rest of the chain including the recording.

To summarize, I think there are many dacs that would fit into your rig, including those you've tried so far and the DirectStream but no proper DAC in the world will drastically change tonality to the degree you're after.

Another quick option, which you've started to play with I think: swap tubes in the BHSE. I found some tubes (like metal base replica from psvane) to sound a bit hard on it and prefer typical NOS variants recommended for the bhse.

Cheers,
Arnaud

Thanks arnaud for your answer.  I will follow your advice and start tube rolling soon.  
 
In the mean time I will listen next week to the Luxman D-08u CD/SACD/DAC and see how it's internal DAC sound with my BHSE/SR009  (and hope to be able to listen soon to the Mark Levinson 519, to the EMM DAC, the PS Audio DirectStream and may be the Mytec Manhattan 2)

 

[asticojojo]

To complete my iUSB3.0 micro, it's been a long time that I'm looking for a radical galvanic isolation. I don't understand why no ones talks about opto-coupler. This is for me the best way to break the noisy PC! We can find on the market now some USB3 fiber extenders. I know this is not the best because of latency and jitter, but with the iUSB3.0 micro all the digital packet will be resynchronised.
 
Ifi team, may I have your point of view about an opto-coupler solution vs iGalvanic3.0 ?

 

[mainaman]

Incorrect means what it means, sounded wrong, unnatural, thin, flat, "hi-fi" ha, emotionless. I stopped listening to a lot of my favorite songs. It actually got worse as my system get's more and more revealing.

I have paired the Directstream with Pass Labs XA30.8 (According to Stereophile best amp ever at $6000+, or that was the XA30.5 reviewed), Benchmark AHB2 (a 100% transparent amp at $3000, it is truly incredible).

Speaker is KEF R700 (romantic sound) and Klipsch RP-280F (clarity sound).

XLR cable was Mogami, changed to Neotech, a truly amazing cable.

I also got a Mutec reclocker and RME AES card as the source + Equitech balanced power (the increase in clarity is amazing here too, also highly recommended)

As you can expect, the Directstream sounded horrible wrong when paired with the clarity system of AHB2 + RP-280F. It sounded only weirdly wrong with the Pass Labs + KEF and leaves me lacking.

For the longest time I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I ended up upgrading the rest of the system, all of it. Sigh.

Then I got the Metrum DAC and boy was I angry at PS Audio at that point.

The thing is, the cheap Onkyo receiver/processor never at once sounded wrong, and boy it's cheap compared to the Scam that is the PS Audio Directstream DAC. I was totally satisfied with the Onkyo, then I bought the Directstream based on reviews.

Oh well, lesson learned.

Bonus: Try listen to Ceui's songs on the Directstream, then on a normal system. The DS just butchers Ceui. *cries*

I havent heard the Direcsteam yet,but it is on my list if i go back to digital.The aforementioned components are very good,but i think that these speakers were probably not good enough or not as good as the electronics and this may have been a factor as everything should be in balance,if you want to hear everything at its best.Maybe your source too;RME are pricy,but not very good,if in a noisy PC.These high-end DACs tend to be very fussy,they need a very good source.That's why people are running audiophile server/PC+reclocker+USB isolation+DDC+etc.

All IMO,of course.

 

[Dvdlucena]

can someone chime in if AES/EBU its a better input than USB in the ps audio DSD?

 

[Thenewguy007]

Woah, this thread got necro-bumped.

No one even posted when the new Redcloud firmware update came out .

Most will say yes, the AES is better, but if you have something like a Uptone regen & the USB cable is of better quality than your AES cable, then USB could be better.

Generally the pecking order is: Streaming > i2s > AES > Coax > USB > Toslink

 

[smodtactical]

How come Yggy is so much more popular than this Dac? Is it because this dac is a lot more pricey? Also for those who have it would you recommend it with my headphones?

Thinking about this vs R2R 7HE, terminator or Yggy.

 

[trappedintime]

How come Yggy is so much more popular than this Dac? Is it because this dac is a lot more pricey? Also for those who have it would you recommend it with my headphones?

Thinking about this vs R2R 7HE, terminator or Yggy.

With the trade-in it's about the same. And I've traded in stuff that might have been worth 200 bucks on my own that they gave me the full 1200 for. Anyway, I found a slightly used second DSJ for 2.2K. Lots of people love Schiit, but I've moved beyond them and the DSJ is definitely beyond Yggy's performance for a number of reasons.

 

[smodtactical]

You traded in old ps gear ?

How’s the ps jr better ?

 

[Thenewguy007]

How come Yggy is so much more popular than this Dac? Is it because this dac is a lot more pricey?.

At nearly 3x the prices. That's a big reason. With that said, used prices for them are reasonable & while it not be as popular on Head-fi, the DS is extremely popular with the speaker crowd.